Rory McIlroy Walks Off Honda Classic Course, Withdraws From Tourney

Unless you've been watching wild man John Daly, it's pretty rare to see a professional golfer pack up his clubs and walk off the course before finishing a tournament. But that's exactly what Rory McIlroy did today at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach, Florida.

McIlroy, the defending champion of the event, called it a day in the middle of his second round. After an opening round even par on Thursday, Rory was 7 over through eight holes when he decided to call it quits.

"I sincerely apologize to the Honda Classic and PGA Tour for my sudden withdrawal," McIlroy said in a statement. "I came here with every intention of defending my Honda Classic title. This is one of my favorite tournaments of the year and I regret having to make the decision to withdraw, but it was one I had to make."

McIlroy went on to say in his press release that he was suffering from a toothache caused by a wisdom tooth scheduled to be removed soon. However, when asked in the tournament parking lot why he was departing, he told reporters, "I'm not in a great place mentally. I can't really say much, guys. I'm just in a bad place mentally.

The golf world's top ranked player has not had the best of seasons so far. He missed the cut in his first start of the year at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and followed that performance by losing in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship last week.

All this poor play comes after signing a massive endorsement contract with Nike during the offseason that is estimated to be worth $200-250 million dollars. No word from the Rory camp if he will still play next week at the WGC-CA Championship at Doral for which he is still listed as a registrant.